Second Trimester (Winter)

Pt15: Yule

BabyBump!Nasir’s having a Jack Skellington moment. He can’t believe his eyes he must be dreaming wake up Syrian this isn’t there – what’s this!? XD

As an Assyrian, I can assume Nasir’s family might have been either Zoroastrian, or belonged to the pre-Islamic Middle Eastern polytheistic religions. But then he was sold into slavery as a boy, and lived amongst the Roman pagans till Spartacus’ merry band of rebels came along and jacked stuff up at his dominus’ villa in S02. So Nasir would have been familiar with the Saturnalia, at least, but now he’s living in Germania, and Agron and his mother have planned a special treat for him. ❤ The kids Nagron brought with them are happily tagging along for the ride; it’s as much a surprise for them as well.

As this is circa 70 BC and Jesus, Mary, and Joseph haven’t even been born yet, Agron’s people are following the old Norse/Germanic yuletide traditions, which St. Boniface and other Christians later integrated with Catholic rites in order to convert the pagans around AD 700 – 1000 or so. (This is crazy; I *just* wrote a whole paper about this for my medieval final. Dang.) So I kept the original elements, but left out some of the more modern or Christian aspects. (Read about them under the cut.)

CAPTIONS AS TEXT

– Yes. Everything was perfect, or as near to perfect as could be achieved.

– Oh moder, you look so festive and pretty! Galatea scoffed: Just get that precious man down here already, so he can finally see everything!

– Nasir! Mein herz, you can come down now!

– Finally! I am very curious to discover why you banished me upstairs for so long. And…why does everything smell of…pinecones? What – ?

– *GASP!* Oh my – ! AGRON!

– Do you like it, little man? Nasir was enthralled, awed and joyous: Like? I LOVE it! But, what is going on?

– A-and why is there an enormous tree in the firepit? And is that the skin of that bear I brought down? What is all this?

– Agron was happy to explain to the dazzled Syrian the winter solstice traditions of the Rhinelanders, Nasir listening attentively.

– My only winters were spent arduously: the blizzards on Melia Ridge, and the snows of the Alps. This is a pleasant change. I thank you.

– Yule: rebirth, revival, renewal. Fresh starts. Light defeating darkness. Life triumphing over death. Nasir didn’t need to hear anything more.

CC CREDITS (& Yuletide History 101)

– The Xmas tree is fair game: that’s going way back to Yggdrasil, the Norse Tree of Life. There’s no Star of Bethlehem on top (thank goodness; thank you for the tree, Aminovas!), St. Boniface ran around Northern Europe cutting down all the sacred trees during the middle ages, so the pagans brought the trees inside, so the forest spirits could have some place warm to live during the winter.

– Bells were hung so that when they chimed, people believed forest spirits had come inside the home. It was a sign of good fortune.

– Bows/Garlands/Festoons were sacred knots (popularized especially by the Celts); akin to handfasting (aka marriage) or unity, bonds, closeness, togetherness, etc.

– Baubles and ball ornaments are modern representations of pine cones and apples, which were hung on ash/oak/fir trees (tannenbaums) to signify fruits and growing things, fertility, and the advent of spring, as Yule marks the end of the year before the days start getting longer and warmer again. So I decorated the place with bowls of pine cones and apples, in the very last pic on the table in the back.

– The wreaths represent the wheel (‘Yule’) of the year turning, with evergreen used to signify eternity/divinity/the undying/unending circle of life; just like Mufasa said.

– The one thing I’m not sure about are the stockings hanging from the fireplace. I hope that’s not too anachronistic. :

– Nasir clothes from Supernatural (Mpreg morphs by Oneeuromutt)

– Galatea’s dress

And I think that’s everything.

Happy Holidays!